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Veteran Voice Actor Kikuko Inoue Writes 1st Memoir Essay About Being Forever 17
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Veteran voice actress Kikuko Inoue (Fairy Tail's Minerva, Ah! My Goddess' Belldandy) will publish her first essay on September 24, one day before her 58th birthday. Its title: Inoue Kikuko 17-sai Desu "Oi oi!" ("Hi, I'm Kikuko Inoue, and I am 17 years old. 'Oi oi!'")
The essay will recount stories from Inoue's childhood, her approach to voice acting, and how she looks and lives youthfully. The published book will include photos of Inoue in cosplay, as well as fond anecdotes from fellow voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Atsuko Tanaka, Rica Matsumoto, Aya Hisakawa, Nana Mizuki, Mai Nakahara, Rie Tanaka, and Maria Yamamoto. It will also include a joint interview with Inoue's daughter Honoka, who is herself an active voice actress.
Pre-orders for the book opened on July 17, which is considered "17-years-old day" in Japan.
Inoue is currently 57 years old, but has established a reputation for claiming to be eternally 17. It's gotten to the point that she is considered the founder of her own religion, 17-saikyou ("age 17ism"), with fellow voice actresses Yukari Tamura, Sakura Nogawa, Rina Satō and Yui Horie as followers. It is also customary to respond to her claims with "Oi, oi!", a Japanese way of showing skepticism.
In 2016, Kikuko and Honoka teamed up to pose as high school students for promotional pictures, and in 2017, they starred as a mother-and-daughter duo in Pokémon Generations episode 18.
Source: Press Release via Ota-suke
